


way leads on to way

by coloredlights



Category: Good Wife (TV)
Genre: F/F, Friendship, Gen, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 18:20:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/600744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coloredlights/pseuds/coloredlights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"This blogger has some source who claims to have evidence that you and I are having an affair.”  </p>
<p>Alicia’s glad for her lawyer face, because actually saying that sentence to Kalinda was mysteriously more difficult than she’d expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	way leads on to way

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lightningwaltz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightningwaltz/gifts).



> Probable spoilers through Episode 4.10 (all aired episodes).

He’s sitting on Alicia’s couch when she arrives at her office. Which is now also Cary’s office.

“Good morning, Eli,” she manages with only a slight tightening of the lips.

“Morning.” The greeting is perfunctory, as he is mostly occupied with sending her a pointed stare clearly indicating that Cary should leave.

Alicia rolls her eyes. “Cary, can you give us a minute?” He barely refrains from sighing – these close quarters are wearing on their decorum – before gathering some files and closing the door behind him.

Alicia sits at her desk. “What requires displacing my poor officemate this time?”

“Alicia – it’s just a blog story.”

There’s no such thing as _just_ a blog story.

 

*****

For once, it’s not about Peter – not about his hookers or his interns or his anatomy. It’s about his wife.

Eli has gotten a tip that a blogger, one he actually has heard of this time, is planning to run a story saying, in essence, that Peter’s wife is cheating on him. With a woman.

Alicia almost laughs. Instead, she reins it in and replies, with only a modicum of incredulity, “Well, I’m _not_. Is that enough to keep it from getting published?”

“Unfortunately not. The writer says he has a reliable source, a source claiming to be a ‘business associate’ of yours, who offers some rather convincing evidence.”

“Well, this source is clearly making that up – there can’t be evidence of something that’s not happening.”

Eli raises an eyebrow. “You’re a defense attorney, Alicia. You know the power of circumstantial evidence. Besides, this source offered something else as well.”

“And what might that be?”

“The name of your alleged mistress,” Eli meets her eyes, “Kalinda Sharma.”

The smile falls from Alicia’s face. “I see. So how do we make this go away?”

 

*****

They have a few options, according to Eli. They can ignore it, or deny it, or try to convince the blogger not to run it. It helps, he says, that Alicia will be able to truthfully deny it if asked, and it also helps that this is one of the less damaging rumors to swirl around the Florricks recently, truthful or not.

“Honestly, the tabloid media accuses Hillary Clinton of lesbian affairs all the time. She still has a higher approval rating than the president.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere, Eli.”

Their meeting adjourns without a conclusion, because ultimately, Alicia realizes, this is not solely her decision to make. Cary will just have to live without his desk for a few more minutes while she makes the first phone call.

Peter actually does laugh, when she tells him. Alicia thinks she might be offended.

Once he settles down, he doesn’t seem to think it’s a big deal. “It’s obviously Eli’s job to figure this out, not mine, but I can’t see what kind of impact that would have on the campaign. Especially since it’s not true.”

Alicia wonders if he would be so immediately trusting if this were a rumor about her affair with a man.

“I just can’t figure out who would even want something like this to get out there,” Alicia ponders aloud.

“Maddie Hayward.” The quickness of Peter’s response is a little shocking.

“Oh – wow. That would make a whole lot of sense, except – how would she know Kalinda? I don’t think they’ve ever met.” Not that Alicia knows the half of what goes on in Kalinda’s life, she’s fairly sure.

“True. I don’t know, maybe someone fed the story to her campaign? Listen, I gotta go. You decide how you want to handle it, I’m fine.” Peter hangs up after mutual goodbyes, and Alicia leans into the hall to beckon Cary back. Her next consultation won’t be by phone.

 

*****

Kalinda’s already at the bar when Alicia arrives, and there’s a tequila shot in front of the empty stool and another in Kalinda’s hand.

“Aw, you waited for me.” Alicia picks up the shot glass, smirking in Kalinda’s direction.

“Just good timing, is all.” Kalinda manages to toss back her shot in the time it takes Alicia to sit down, suggesting that perhaps she had been waiting after all.

Alicia toasts the air, since Kalinda’s shot is already gone, and throws her drink back as well. “Probably good we started this conversation on that note – “ 

“Uh-oh.”

Alicia chuckles. “No, it’s not that bad. At least I don’t think so. But, there’s this journalist – well, blogger – who’s planning to run a story…”

“Uh-oh.”

“Stop that. It’s just, this story is about us.”

Kalinda blinks at her. “Us who?”

“Us, as in you and me. This blogger has some source who claims to have evidence that you and I are having an affair.” Alicia’s glad for her lawyer face, because actually saying that sentence to Kalinda was mysteriously more difficult than she’d expected.

Kalinda raises both eyebrows, which is about the equivalent of a spit-take for anyone with normal reactions.

Alicia forges ahead. “Eli told me this morning. And I’ve already talked to Peter, and he doesn’t think it’s a problem for the campaign, and honestly I can’t see why it matters either – “

“Because it’s not true, you mean.” 

“Well, yes. That certainly helps. But unless you want me to, I wasn’t going to fight to keep it from being published.” Alicia signals for another round.

“Do you know who the source is?” Kalinda’s still being noncommittal, which surprises Alicia not at all.

“That’s actually what’s bothering me most – I have no idea who would even come up with something like that. Peter suggested Maddie Hayward, but would she even know who you are? Or that we’re friends?”

Kalinda shrugs. “I’ve never met her, so it seems unlikely. Sometimes people know more than you think, though.”

“I’ll certainly drink to that.” And they do, actually clinking glasses this time before the shots disappear.

“I have another idea.” Kalinda glances sideways, the way she does when she thinks Alicia can’t see her.

“Do tell.”

“Well – my husband.” Kalinda is studiously looking straight ahead when Alicia turns toward her in surprise. “He heard me on the phone with you, once. He claimed I spoke differently, with you, than I would with a work colleague.”

Alicia lets that sit for a moment. “I see. But – you said he’s gone.”

“And he is. This must have been in the works before he left.” Kalinda sounds resolute, and Alicia doesn’t want to think too hard about why she would be so sure.

“Well, that answer does make the most sense, then. So he would have been trying to get to you, not to me or Peter.”

“That’s right. He doesn’t care much about collateral damage.”

“Does that affect what you want to happen with the story?” Alicia catches Kalinda’s eye, wanting to show that she’s sincere, that she’ll fight this if that’s what Kalinda wants. Kalinda has gone to bat for her so many times, it’s the least she can do.

“He can’t hurt me this way. Do whatever you need to do – if you want to kill the story, I’ll help however you need.” Kalinda hates making choices, much preferring to leave all her options open, but if there’s a battle between Alicia and Nick, she knows which side she’s on. 

Alicia smiles at her shot glass. “I know you will. But I think I’ll just let this one go.”

Alicia flags down the bartender for a glass of wine – two shots on a work night is probably the upper limit of reasonable. As Alicia orders, Kalinda revels briefly in this small victory over Nick. It’s nothing now that she’s won the war, but knowing that his parting shot went so far wide is enjoyable nonetheless. As if linking her to Alicia in print could ever have damaged _her_.

“Hey, Kalinda.” Alicia’s wine has arrived and she’s looking at Kalinda again.

“Mmm?” 

“If I were going to have a lesbian affair, you’d definitely be my first choice.” Alicia’s tone is light but not joking.

Kalinda can’t stop the genuine grin from splitting her face, and she’s not almost laughing because it’s funny, she’s almost laughing because who ever would have thought they could get back to this place, this place where it doesn’t matter that she chose Peter, in another life, before she ever knew there was an Alicia. What an idiotic choice that was, in all respects except that it created Kalinda’s new life, because there is an Alicia, here with her, grinning back at her, not holding her at arms’ length or blocked from her by ex-husbands with guns. And as much as Kalinda hates making choices, because something is always lost in the choosing, she knows that any she makes, now, will be for Alicia. 

She’ll lose anything but Alicia.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.
> 
> Apologies to my lovely Yuletide recipient for not being able to fulfill the request for an AU in which Kalinda and Alicia are publicly a couple - I generally tie my stories very closely to canon (and subtext), and I just couldn't get my brain to manage an AU. The closest I could get was this exploration of how publicity might affect the canon relationship between the two of them.


End file.
